I am yet to come to terms with the electric starter on the test bike. It makes lots of noises and I had to develop a technique that involves two hands to start the bike without flooding the carb. I was expecting a healthy whump, whump idle and was disappointed at getting a mechanical chatter where every moving part of the new UCE (unit construction engine) was singing to different tunes. Trust me, there is nothing more unbearable than a British single that is out of sync and the only excuse RE can have is the fact that it is NOT a Brit single any more.
First gear engages positively, but the clutch release results in a judder that can put the pelvic thrusts of an ageing Rajnikant to shame. You are not supposed to stay in first gear for more than, say, three seconds since vibrations will start shaking your vertebrae loose. On to second and then third quickly and life gets better. And you are really riding a British single all over again.
According to my colleague Kyle, who has been riding all kinds of Brit singles as well as Enfields for years, the roll-on performance of the new T-bird is impressive. And our tests show that it does 60 kph in 6.7 seconds and 100 kph in 25.8 seconds. In Enfield terms that is whopping, ok?
And for the record it can do a top whack of 108 kph, though an optimistic speedo will happily show you 115 plus. Not that you buy Enfields to emulate Hayabusas, still.
Photograph: Royal Enfield
Also see: Parvathy Omanakuttan returns to Mumbai
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